Bulgar
origins remain unclear, although many theories exist and a few of them
are likely enough to be accurate. The most reasonable origin seems to be
related to the Tiele (Tieh-lê) who declared themselves independent of
the Jou-Jan during the reign of Khagan Tou-lun (485-492). The Tiele
revolt saw them migrate further north and west, one of many
Turko-Mongoloid
tribes in this region which now forms north-western
China and areas of Central Asia. As with the majority of these tribes,
they were formed from the Central Asian melting pot of ethnic groups,
with
Indo-Iranians also forming part of their early ancestry. The
proto-Bulgars may have been Tiele or a sub-group which was controlled
by them, with the migration allowing the proto-Bulgars to establish a
stronger identity of their own. Homelands have been posited for them
in Kazakhstan and the north Caucasian steppe, although the latter
ignores their Central Asian origins. In the early phase of their
existence, proto-Bulgars are generally accepted as being Turko-Mongoloid
steppe people, part of a vast wave of mounted nomadic tribes which
appeared in Central Asia from the third century AD onwards (the
Xionites
among them). (See map link, right, for more details.)

Proto-Bulgars may have a shared origin with Oguric-speaking tribes
which later formed part of
Great Bulgaria in the
seventh century and the Volga Bulgar state in the tenth century.
The Oguric tribes undoubtedly had their origins on the Kazakh steppe
prior to their entry into Eastern
Europe.
Interaction with Hunnic
tribes may have occurred prior to their westwards migration, but the
Pontic-Caspian steppe seems a more likely setting, particularly in the
aftermath of the collapse of the Hunnic state. They and the other larger
groupings that arrived on the Pontic-Caspian steppe between the fourth
and fifth centuries collected other smaller groups along the way which
served to dilute their specific origin and, in time, form a more
generalised early Turkic set of tribes. Further dilution occurred as
the new arrivals mixed with any remaining Slav groups, those that had
not migrated north or west to escape the Huns. By the sixth century
there appears to have been a number of Bulgar groupings on the
Pontic-Caspian steppe, particularly in its eastern zones. In fact,
the Armenian Geography mentions a number of Bulgar tribes in
the northern Caucasian-Kuban steppe (between modern
Georgia and the
Sea of Azov).

The variation in names for the proto-Bulgars is relatively vast, covering
Balkars, Blkars, Bolgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bulgari, Bulghars, Bulhi,
Bulkhars, Bushki, and Malkars, plus the more Asiatic and possibly original
forms, Ba-go, Bao-guo, Bu-gu, and Pu-ku, along with others. There were
also various subdivisions and ethnic affiliates which could be found
amongst or alongside the main mass of Bulgars, many of which are little
more than Bulgars with further variations of the name. These included the
Alani (certainly an
identifiable group in their own right, but they were a wide-ranging people
and some groups could easily have joined the proto-Bulgars on the steppe)
and Ases (the same as the Yases, below - a nomadic group which may
have been involved in the invasion of
Sogdiana around 130 BC), plus Balandzhars,Bandzhars,
Barsils, Barsilts, and Belendzhers (all in Dagestan
on the north-western coast of the Caspian Sea), and also Bersulas,
the 'immigrant' Chdar-Bulgars (or Cdar Bulkar, perhaps the hardest
group to locate - they are generally placed in the basins of Big Rombit
(Eja) or Don (at the north-eastern tip of the Sea of Azov), or in
northern Dagestan), Duc'i Bulkar (or Duci Bulgar - the same as the
Kuci Bulgars listed below), Esegels (or Asijie - part of the
'Western Wing' of the
Göktürk
empire in AD 651), the Hajlandurkh and Hajlandurs (both
possibly variations of the Onogur name), Khazars (most definitely not
Bulgars as such - they formed an empire of their own in direct competition
with the Bulgars), Kuchi-Bulkar (Bulgars of the River Dnieper (Kocho),
which enters the northern Black Sea to the west of the
Crimea - also known as the
Duci Bulgars listed above), Kupi-Bulgars (or Kup'i Bulgar - Bulgars
of the River Kuban or Kuphis which flows from the Caucuses Mountains into
the Sea of Azov) Kutigurs or
Kutrigurs (a
readily-identifiable division with their own visible history), Olxontor
Blkar (Onogur Bulgars), Onogurs (or Oghondor, or even Olhontor-Blkar
- another readily-identifiable division which, confusingly, may still be
one and the same group as the early Bulgars), Pugurs (possibly the
European version of
Chinese
names for Bulgars - Bu-gu or Pu-ku), Unoguns, Unogundurs,
Venenders (disputed - they could either be Onogurs or remnants of the
Venedi - or both!),
Sabirs (an identifiably separate group), Suvars (or Subars - also
seemingly involved in the invasion of
Sogdiana), Yases (see the Ases, above), and others. Many of these
later became indivisible from the Bulgars themselves.

The medieval Balkan Bulgars appear to have claimed an Attilid (Hunnic)
origin for their ruling house, as shown by the Bulgarian prince list -
meaning descent from Attila, however unlikely this may be in fact. Attila
was a powerful figure to the medieval states, especially those which occupied
territory that had once been part of the Hunnic empire. Claiming descent
from Attila would be akin to
Germanic tribes claiming
descent from Woden. The Bulgar name is typically etymologised from the Turkic
'bulga-', meaning 'to stir, confuse, disturb (someone), produce a state of
disorder', which could be rendered in English as 'the disturbers', a suitable
name for nomads. However, this explanation is seen by experts as being
derogatory and unsuitable. A consensus about the name's more suitable meaning
seems not to have been reached.

At first, any early-arriving Bulgar and other Turkic tribes were dominated
in the northern Caucuses by the
Goths who occupied a
large extent of the northern Black Sea coast (the Bulgars have been posited
as a reason for a series of Gothic migrations in the second century AD, but
this is too early for the Bulgars to be in the region). Some early Bulgar
elements may also have been forced into the Pontic steppe from their earlier
homeland by the expansionist conquests of the
Göktürks in the sixth century, further increasing Bulgar numbers. By
the early seventh century, with the collapse of the Hunnic empire and the
early termination of the first
Avar khaganate, the Bulgarians
had set up a powerful tribal amalgamation known as
Great Bulgaria. Its ruler was
Qaghan Koubrat. He established friendly relations with the
Eastern Roman
empire, but after his death the state quickly fragmented under pressure
from the Khazars.

Some Bulgarians subsequently remained in the region and were subdued by
the Khazars, but others travelled. One group reached the Volga where it
set up a new state known as Volgan Bulgaria, with a capital at Kazan.
This existed up until the thirteenth century when it was wiped out by
Tartars.
Another group of Bulgars settled first in Pannonia, and subsequently in
the region of Bitolya
(Macedonia). A third group
followed the northern Black Sea coastline, soon reaching the Danube where
it founded a new kingdom of
Bulgaria.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Edward
Dawson and Vassil Karloukovski, from The Origin and Deeds of the
Goths, Jordanes, from the Chronicle of Fredegar / Latin
Chronicle (author unknown but the work has been attributed to
Fredegar since the sixteenth century thanks to his name being written
in the margin), from An Introduction to the History of the Turkic
Peoples, Peter B Golden (1992), from Armenian Geography,
Pseudo-Movsês Xorenac'i, from Rulers of Bulgaria, Professor Milcho
Lalkov, from Volga Bulgaria Stories for Children, S Shamsi & I
Izmailov (Kazan, 1995), and from External Links:
Proto-Bulgarian Runic Inscriptions, Vassil Karloukovski, and
The Balts, Marija Gimbutas (1963, previously available online thanks
to Gabriella at Vaidilute, but still available as a PDF - click or tap on link
to download or access it), and Gothica, Jordanes (full text
available online at
Archive.com), and
Turkic History, and
Kroraina, Vassil Karloukovski.)

c.422

Just about the earliest indisputable record of Bulgars being in Europe
refers to a battle between Bulgars and
Langobards. This takes place
somewhere on the northern slopes of the Carpathians, and this particular
group of Bulgars are probably acting as recruits of the
Huns. The battle is recorded
by Paulus Diaconus and Fredegarius, although the dating is approximate (a
date of circa 415 seems more appropriate to fit in with Langobard
migration).

Soon after the middle of the fifth century AD the Hunnic
empire crashed into extinction, starting with the death of
Attila in 453. His son and successor, Ellac, was killed in
battle in 454, and the Huns were defeated by the Ostrogoths
in 456, ending Hunnic unity (click or tap on map to view full sized)

c.467

Oguric-speaking tribes have recently been pushed out of the Kazakh steppe
by the Sabirs due to population pressures from farther east and a domino
effect of tribal movement in a westwards direction. Now they make their
presence felt on the Pontic-Caspian steppe. The Saragurs attack the Akatirs
and other tribes that had been part of the
Hunnic union. Then, perhaps
prompted by the Eastern
Roman empire, the Ogurics raid
Sassanid-held Transcaucasia, ravaging the Georgian kingdoms of
Egrisi and
Iberia and
also
Armenia while on their way southwards.

The Ogurics also appear in a listing of tribes in the supplement to the
Syriac translation of 'Pseudo-' Zacharias Rhetor's Ecclesiastical
History, composed around AD 555 based on an earlier text. The
supplement (perhaps not fully reliable for the fifth century situation)
mentions the tribes of Onogur, Ogur, Sabir, Burgar (Bulgar),
Kutrigur, Abar, Kasar
(this name is uncertain, possibly also being Kasir or Akatzir), Sarurgur
(Sarugur/Saragur), Xwâlis, and Abdel
(Hephthalites).

They are described in the clichéd phrases that are reserved for nomads
in the ethnographic literature of the period. Beyond these scant notices,
nothing is known of the later history of the Saragurs. They are probably
incorporated into other more powerful tribal unions, their amalgamation
being induced by the movements of other steppe peoples, perhaps the Sabirs,
who enter the region by the late fifth and early sixth centuries.

480

Another of the earliest written records involving the Bulgars is dated to
this year when they serve as allies of the
Eastern Roman Emperor
Zeno against the
Ostrogoths.
The restlessness of this
Germanic group has been creating increasing problems in their management
for the Romans, and they often need bringing back into line.

550/551

The Gothic writer Jordanes,
a bureaucrat in the
Eastern Roman capital of Constantinople, completes his sixth century work
at this time, entitled Getica. Among many other things, it provides an
account of the people of the Acatziri who live to the south of the Goths
(Tauric Goths). Beyond them, above the Pontic Sea (Black Sea), is the habitat
of the 'Bulgari', seemingly neighbouring the
Hunnic branches of the Altziagiri
(possibly the Altyn Ola horde)
and Saviri (probably Sabirs). However, the Bulgars temporarily disappear from
the historical record around this point in time as the
Kutrigurs come to the
fore. All of the tribes are soon overwhelmed by the
Avars.

552

In Central Asia, the Rouran khagan faces an uprising by the early
Göktürks,
one which is supported by the
Western Wei. The Rouran are defeated in battle to the north of Huaihuang
(now the prefecture city of Zhangjiakou in northern China's Hebei Province).
The Göktürk people are now free to become the main power in the region.

As was often the case with Central Asian states that had been
created by horse-borne warriors on the sweeping steppelands, the
Göktürk khaganate swiftly incorporated a vast stretch of
territory in its westwards expansion, whilst being hemmed in by
the powerful Chinese dynasties to the south-east and Siberia's
uninviting tundra to the north (click or tap on map to view full sized)

They move away from their traditional homeland in the southern Altai and
migrate into the Orkhon Valley in Central Mongolia. This forms the centre
of Göktürk power during their period of empire, but their rapid expansion
may be responsible for pushing the proto-Bulgars westwards over the next
half a century to settle in the Caucuses and the
Avars after them. The
Göktürks soon follow them to establish their domination over the nomadic
tribes of the Pontic-Caspian steppe - especially the Ogurs, Onogurs, Sabirs,
Utigurs, and the main body
of Bulgars (although some groups may already have moved to Pannonia under
the sudden onset of Avar domination). The extent of Göktürk domination over
the Bulgars is unclear.

558

The
Altyn Ola are eventually
absorbed by the early Bulgars, probably immediately prior to the formation
of Great Bulgaria.
However, the notion that possible
Hun descendants may enter
the Bulgarian gene pool seems to be highly controversial and open to strong
objections. If it happens at all, the number of actual Huns rather than
their many subject peoples who are not of Hunnic descent is likely to be
a minute part of the population.

Around the same time - AD 558, prompted by
Kutrigur agitation at
the advance of the Avars - this group raids
Eastern Roman
territory. The result is that Emperor Justinian commands his
Utigur allies to attack
the Kutrigurs and the two groups virtually annihilate one another. Their
remnants are largely absorbed by the Avar union during its brief period
of ascendancy over the Pontic steppe, and then probably by Great Bulgaria
which succeeds the union.

560s - 571

A
people, country, and town with the name in later
Arab
sources of Belendzher or Balandzhar is mentioned for the
first time by the Arab historian at-Tabari in connection with events from
the 560s.
Sassanid-controlled
Armenia is invaded by four peoples - 'abkhaz', 'b-ndzh-r' (Bandzhar),
'b-l-ndzh-r' (Balandzhar), and the
Alani.

Between these two dates, İstemi, the khagan of the western
Göktürks, defeats the peoples who are noted in later Arab sources as
'b-ndzh-r' (Bandzhar), 'b-l-n-dzh-r' (Balandzhar), and Khazars,
who then agree to serve him. The scholar, A V Gadlo, concludes that the
name 'bandzhar' refers to the Ogurs, and 'balandzhar' is a Perso-Arabic
form of the Onogur/Utigur
name.

c.580s - 590s

The twelfth century chronicle of the Jacobite patriarch of Antioch, Michael
of Syria, uses earlier sources to describe the arrival of at least one group
of proto-Bulgars on the Pontic-Caspian steppe (although certainly not the
first). The story is a conglomeration of facts pertaining to several events
from different periods in time, all of them united around the story of the
expansion of Khazar political power in the second half of the seventh
century.

Oguric-speaking warriors on the Pontic-Caspian steppe in the
sixth century would have been largely indistinguishable from
each other but, under Eastern Roman influence, some would have
begun to resemble the Romans just like the eighth century
Bulgars shown here

According to the story, three 'Scythian' brothers (perhaps indicating an
Indo-Iranian origin or cultural bias) set out on a journey from the
mountain of Imaon (Tien-Shan) in Asia and reach the River Tanais (the modern
Don). Here one of the brothers, called Bulgarios, takes 10,000 people with
him, parts from his brothers and, with the permission of
Eastern Roman Emperor Maurice, settles in Upper and Lower Moesia and
Dacia. Here, no doubt, they can be used as a buffer against the
Avars whom Maurice pushes
to the north of the Danube by 599. The need for this additional migration
can be attributed to Khazar pressure on the Caspian steppe.

The other two brothers enter the country of the
Alani, which is
called Barsalia (Bersilia - the land of the Barsils). Their towns
are built with assistance from the Eastern Romans to serve as a buffer
against the steppe nomads. One of these towns is named as Caspij, identified
by most historians as the area around the Torajan Gates or Caspian Gates
(Derbent). The Bulgars and the Pugurs ('puguraje' - a Bulgar ethnic
affiliate group) inhabit these places, seemingly providing an origin for
the Barsils themselves. One of the brothers is named as Khazarig - probably
an attempt to provide an origin story for the Khazars (it is the Khazars who
later dominate those Barsils who do not migrate northwards to join the Volga
Bulgars), possibly an origin story for Uturgur, founder of the Khazarig
dynasty of Hunno-Bulgar leaders of the
Kutrigurs and
Utigurs, and also possibly
an origin story for the Avars in that the leader who commands them on their
east-west migration is Kazrig. It could be the case that Kazrig/Khazarig
actually does command all of these groups, at least for a time.

Coincidentally, perhaps, around the same time an Unogonduri tribal
leader by the name of Houdbaad becomes dominant in 'Patria Onoguria', the
land of the Onogurs, a
Turkic group
which is largely inseparable from the early Bulgars themselves. His
dominance succeeds that of Sandlikh of the Utigurs. His state
has its heartland on the Taman Peninsula, an outcrop of territory on what
is now the Russian
side of the Strait of Kerch and the southern coast of the Sea of Azov,
opposite Crimea.

There
may be two levels of command in terms of the Bulgars. The little-known Houdbaad
is claimed as being dominant in 'Patria Onoguria', the lands of the Onogurs
(which should also refer to the Bulgars, although perhaps not immediate
while the two groups may still be in the process of combining).

Tubdjak is the son of Chelbir of the
Altyn Ola. This horde had
once provided what would seem to have been the core headquarters of the
Hunnic remnants but has since
faded greatly in power to the point at which it effectively terminates around
590. In the face of the Avar
advance, prior to his death Chelbir appears to have been able to negotiate
a degree of autonomy for the Onogurs-Bulgars who now make up the majority
of his people, with his son able to succeed him as the commander of the
western Bulgars (the 'Kara-Bulgars'), those on the northern steppe who are
forming 'Patria Onoguria'.

How these posited two levels of command may work together is unknown but it
is likely that Tubdjak holds the superior position, at least initially. Upon
Tubdjak's death in 605, his son, Bu-Yurgan, succeeds him. It is claimed that
the Greek record of his name is given as 'Organ', making him the Qaghan Organ
who maintains not only Patria Onoguria but also the Avar khaganate until his
nephew, Koubrat, is old enough to succeed.

The 'Madara Horseman' is a large rock relief which was carved
on the Madara Plateau to the east of Shumen in north-eastern
Bulgaria - it can be dated to the very end of the seventh or
start of the eighth century, during the reign of Bulgar Khan
Tervel

The
growing power and influence of a tribal leader named Koubrat, nephew of
Organa, presages the creation of a short-lived but powerful tribal empire
in the Pontic steppe which supersedes the more informal 'Patria Onoguria'.
However, it is stated (certainly by Professor Milcho Lalkov - see his
feature via the link) that Koubrat's tribe is the Unogonduri, which
throws off 'Turkic oppression' and succeeds in uniting the Bulgar
tribes.

Two conflicts are evident here: that the Bulgars are not an early
Turkic
group themselves when the reverse would seem to be true; and that
Koubrat's tribe is not a Bulgar tribe until a unified Bulgar identity
is formed and the individual groups which form it become
indistinguishable from each other. The Unogundur Bulgars are
instead seemingly related to the former
Onogurs/Utigurs, and
could even be influenced by remnants of the
Venedi (see AD
652-653, below). This second conflict is less of a problem, however, as
the Onogurs seem to be largely inseparable from the Bulgars by this date,
and perhaps to the extent of never even having formed separate groups
at all. The former problem is solved when 'Turks' is replaced by
'Avars', the current
dominating body on the Pontic-Caspian steppe.

By
this time the proto-Bulgars have long since settled the Taman Peninsula as
part of the Unogonduri migration. They have gradually been becoming dominant,
absorbing various small local groups to increase their numbers, including
the Altyn Ola horde, and
the Kutrigurs and
Utigurs. Now that
conditions are favourable and the right leader has emerged,
Avar control is thrown
off (in 635) and a tribal state quickly blossoms into a great tribal
empire by the name of
Great Bulgaria.

Great BulgariaAD c.632 - 668

In the seventh century AD a tribal state arose which was known as Great
Bulgaria or, alternatively, as 'Old Great Bulgaria' or by the Latin name,
Magna Bulgaria, or even Patria Onoguria (land of the Onogurs, a
Turkic group
which was largely inseparable from the Bulgars themselves). This state had
its heartland on the Taman Peninsula, an outcrop of territory on what is now
the Russian side of the
Strait of Kerch and the southern coast of the Sea of Azov, opposite
Crimea. The centre was at
Phanagoria, former eastern capital of the Cimmerian Bosporus kingdom.
Throwing off Avar domination
in AD 635 to establish itself, this state incorporated a large mix of tribes
and even ethnic groups in its rather uncertain borders. This mix included
the various survivors of the
Hunnic empire, such as the
Altyn Ola horde, and the
decimated remnants of the
Kutrigurs (better known
as Kotraks in the seventh century) and
Utigurs. It also included
a great number of the other, largely Turkic, tribes of the Pontic steppe,
along with the Avar khaganate itself.

A separate group of Bulgars occupied land to the east of this state, forming
their own state or territory which was known as Bersilia - land of the
Barsils (proto-Bulgars).
This territory occupied the western bank of the Volga between the northern
edge of the Caspian Sea and modern Volgagrad, although it may also have
stretched southwards to impinge upon the territory of the
Alani. The Barsils
may first have settled the region in the 580s-590s, according to a story
which was written down much later (in the chronicle of the Jacobite patriarch
of Antioch, Michael of Syria, who used earlier sources - see above for the
entry). When the Avars first arrived in the region, the Barsils, Sabirs,
and Unogurs quickly capitulated, apparently 'struck with horror'. With the
collapse of the first Avar empire the Barsils regained a degree of their
nomadic existence, but they were soon regarded as vassals of Great Bulgaria,
albeit seemingly lying outside this confederation's general borders. This
territory is also sometimes referred to as being under the control of the
Alani, but is too far north for anything other than fleeing Alani vassalage
(Michael of Syria seems to be especially guilty of this seeming error).

With the collapse of Great Bulgaria these various groups probably dissipated
into the surrounding population in
Ukraine, on either side of
the Don. The majority of Barsils migrated northwards to the Middle Volga
alongside one large group of Bulgars where they formed the Volga Bulgar
state. Many other groups had most likely already integrated themselves
fully into the various Bulgar divisions and had lost their individual
identities as a result. However, many of these groups had formerly been
dominated by the Huns, and even the notion that any Hun descendants may
have entered the Bulgarian gene pool seems to be highly controversial and
open to strong objection - even if those descendants were not specifically
ethnic Huns themselves but were instead other early Turko-Mongoloid groups
that had been pressed into service by the empire. If it happened at all
(which is a near certainty), then the number of actual Huns rather than
their many subject peoples who were not of Hunnic descent is likely to
be a minute part of the population.

The creation of Great Bulgaria caused other problems too. Population
pressures on the Pontic steppe had been growing, with the invasion of the
Huns in the late fourth century providing possibly the first major impetus
for Slavic migration northwards to escape. Invasions by the Avars in the
early sixth century and then creation of this Bulgar empire in the early
seventh century did the rest. Slav migration by then was in full swing,
largely northwards where they placed the
Baltic peoples of a large
swathe of this territory under great pressure. Other Slav groups headed
west, establishing migratory routes that were soon followed by at least
two major groups of Bulgars.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from the
Chronicle of Fredegar / Latin Chronicle (author unknown but
the work has been attributed to Fredegar since the sixteenth century thanks
to his name being written in the margin), from An Introduction to the
History of the Turkic Peoples, Peter B Golden (1992), from the work
of Theophilactus Simocatta, from Istorija Khazar, M I Artamonov
(Leningrad, 1962), from Izvestija o sarmatah, burtasah, bolgarah,
mad'jarah, slavjanah I russkih Abu-Ali-Ahmeda ben Omara ibn Dasta,
D A Hvol'son (1869), from Etnicheskaja istorija Severnogo Kavkaza,
A V Gadlo, from Derbend-Nameh, Mirza A Kasem-Beg (translated from
select Turkish versions with texts and notes in Memoires de l'Academie
imperiale des Sciences, St Petersburg, 1861), and from External
Links:
The Balts, Marija Gimbutas (1963, previously available online thanks
to Gabriella at Vaidilute, but still available as a PDF - click or tap on link
to download or access it), and
Turkic History.)

c.632 - c.651

Khan or Qaghan Kubrat / Koubrat

Created the
Great Bulgarian state out of 'Patria Onoguria'.

c.632 - c.651

Qaghan
Koubrat is the first to lay the foundations of a
Bulgar military and
tribal alliance. He forms a capital at Phanagoria on the Taman Peninsula
near Crimea). It has been
suggested that he is working with
Eastern Roman
influence. Curiously, and perhaps not coincidentally, a similar confederation
has already recently formed as a
'Slav
Kingdom' between Carinthia and
Moravia, possibly part of
a Roman-inspired chain of defences against the
Avars.

In AD 632, Qaghan Koubrat came to power as the head of an
Onogur-Bulgar confederation and three years later he was able
to throw off Avar domination and found Great Bulgaria (click
or tap on map to view full sized), while below that is a modern
illustration of Qaghan Koubrat and his warrior sons at the
height of their power

By this time the Altyn Ola
horde has been absorbed, along with the
Kutrigurs and
Utigurs. Many other
Turkic
tribes have also begun to lose their individual identity, eventually to
become Bulgars. Koubrat makes peace with the
Eastern Roman
empire and is awarded the title of patrician by Emperor Heraclius. Koubrat
dies some time after 651 and his creation - Great Bulgaria - gradually
falls apart. He is buried - perhaps - at Pereshchepina, where the treasure
of the same name is discovered in 1912.

c.651 - 668

Bat
Bayan

Eldest son.
Defeated by Khazars in 668. End of Great Bulgaria.

651

A
Chinese
account of the
Western
Göktürk 'Western Wing' division lists five tribes which includes the
Esegels (Ezgil or Asijie,
soon to be found along the Volga with the Bulgars). The leader of the first
tribe of Esegels is one 'Kül-erkin' ('Qiue-syjin' in its Chinese form -
possibly a title rather than a name). He is 'most prosperous and strong,
the number of his soldiers reached several tens of thousands'. Alongside
him are the other four tribes of this division: another Kül-erkin or
Qiue-syjin, this time of the Kashu or Geshu (Khazars - the same man as head
of both tribes?); Tun-shabo(lo)-syjin of the Barskhan; Nizuk-erkin
(Nishu-syjin) of a second tribe of Ezgil (Esegels); and Chopan-erkin
(Chuban-syjin) of a second tribe of Kashu (Khazars).

fl 651

Kül-erkin / Qiue-syjin

Leader of a tribe of Esegels.

fl 651

Nizuk-erkin / Nishu-syjin

Leader of a tribe of Esegels.

652 - 653

The
growing
Islamic empire begins to threaten
Armenia. Aided by the
Eastern Romans,
Armenia defends itself, but the Arab campaign continues northwards into the
Caucuses under General Salman. He concentrates on the towns and settlements
of the western coast of the Caspian Sea and on defeating the Khazars. A
description of this campaign is based on a manuscript by Ahmed-bin-Azami,
and it mentions that '...Salman reached the Khazar town of Burgur... He
continued and finally reached Bilkhar, which was not a Khazar possession,
and camped with his army near that town, on rich meadows intersected by a
large river'.

This is why several historians connect the town with the proto-Bulgars.
The Arab missionary Ahmed ibn-Fadlan also confirms this connection, as he
mentions that during his trip to the Volga Bulgars in 922 he sees a group
of 5,000 Barandzhars
(balandzhars) who had migrated a long time ago to Volga Bulgaria
[following the collapse of Great Bulgaria].

Could at least one group of peoples who lived close to seventh
century Dagestan and the western shores of the Caspian Sea have
been Venedi who had been dragged there by the returning Huns
and their other associates?

According to Ibn al-Nasira, after capturing
Belendzher-Bulker
(Bulkhar-Balkh where many Khazar-dominated Belendzheris had been taken
prisoner - for 'Bulker' read 'Bulgar'), Salman reaches another large town,
called Vabandar, which has 40,000 houses (families?). M I Artamonov links
the name of that town with the ethnicon of the
Unogundur Bulgars
(seemingly related to the former
Onogurs/Utigurs), which is
given as 'v-n-nt-r' by the Khazars (in the letter by their Khagan Joseph).
It is shown as 'venender' or 'nender' by the Arabs, and as Unogundur-Onogur
by the Eastern Romans. Variations of 'v-n-nt-r' appear in 668, 982 and 1094,
and all suggest that elements of the
Venedi have been
pinpointed without the authors really knowing their identity.

Interpreting the documentary evidence, Artamonov concludes that the early
medieval population of northern Dagestan consists of proto-Bulgar tribes,
so that mentions by several authors of a kingdom of the
Huns and their country of
the same name in this period should rather be called a kingdom of the
Bulgars. He also regards as proto-Bulgarian 'the magnificent town of
Varachan', the main centre of these 'Huns', which is located by Moses
Kagantvaci to the north of Derbend.

fl 662

Alcioka

A Bulgar 'prince' and leader of 9,000 Bulgars.

662

The
Fredegarii Chronicon records that in Pannonia (part of which now forms
Khorushka's
territory), a dispute arises between the now-independent
Avars and a large, migrant
population of around nine thousand Bulgars. Under the leadership of a Prince
Alcioka, the Bulgars seek help from the
Bavarii
but are almost entirely slaughtered on the orders of the
Frankish King Dagobert
of Austrasia. Something like seven
hundred survivors enter the marca Vinedorum, the land of the Slavs, and meet
its ruler, one Duke Valuk ('Wallucum ducem Vinedorum', possibly linked to
the Slav
Kingdom).

668

Great Bulgaria disintegrates following a massive Khazar attack during their
period of expansion in the second half of the seventh century. According to
tradition, Bat Bayan and his brothers part company, each leading their own
followers. Bat Bayan and his followers remain in their adopted land and are
soon subdued by the Khazars.

668 - ?

Bat
Bayan

Eldest son of
Koubrat. Accepted Khazar vassalage.

The
second son, Kotrag, founds a state in the confluence of the Volga and the Kam
(Kama), known as Volga Bulgaria (or the Volga Bulgars), which survives until
the beginning of the thirteenth century. These Bulgars appear to have an
influence on the language of the
Magyars who later form
the state of
Hungary.
In fact, the Chuvash (Čuva) language, an extraordinary Oguric/Oğuric
Turkic dialect
that is now spoken in the Middle Volga region, is thought to be the continuation
of the language of the Volga Bulgars.

The River Kam (Kama) joins the mighty Volga just below the site
of Kazan, founded as a border post by the Volga Bulgars to keep
a watchful eye on the neighbouring Volga Finnic tribe of the
Mari and the Bjarmian Udmurts

668 - ?

Kotrag

Second son of Koubrat. Migrated north to found Volga
Bulgars.

Another son, Kuber, leads a group of Bulgars to Pannonia and settles in
Macedonia (they are
later integrated into the kingdom formed by Asparukh's group). Altsek and
his group of Bulgars reach
Italy. The third of
Koubrat's five sons is Asparukh (Asparouh). He leads between 30,000 to
50,000 people westwards from the Ergeni Hills (the Hippian Mountains) in
northern present-day Kalmykia (in
Russia, on the
north-western coast of the Caspian Sea), towards the northern coast of
the Black Sea. They soon reach the Danube and settle there, founding a
new kingdom of
Bulgaria.

A
number of other tribal names have been associated with that of the Bulgars.
Some medieval documents mention that Asparukh also leads a people named
'v.n.n.tr' (in Khazar sources) or
'Unogundur' (in
Eastern Roman
sources). This ethnonym has been related by historians to the names 'Venender',
'Vhndur', and 'Onogur' that appear in other texts. The latter at least can be
connected to the Utigurs.
This name in its Khazar form is very similar to references to the same people
in 982 and 1094 - strongly suggesting that they are remnants of the
Venedi, Eastern
Celts who may, if
they are migrating with Asparukh, have ventured far further east than has
previously been suspected. By this stage though, and with the possible
confusion with Onogurs and Utigurs, they can hardly be carrying much of
their Celtic culture and language with them.

Also, the tribes of the Utigurs and
Kutrigurs which appear
in some narrative sources referring to the sixth century are associated
by many historians with the Bulgars, probably thanks to their merger with
proto-Bulgars during the ascendancy of Great Bulgaria.

682

The social and economical development of the various proto-Bulgar groups has
progressed at various rates. Those proto-Bulgars who live on the lowlands of
the western Caspian Sea coast (in what had been referred to as Barsilia -
see above - but which later becomes Dagestan) have been settled for some
time. Even by the early sixth century they had replaced their nomadic
traditions with permanent settlements, some of them called 'towns'.

Now the notes of a mission conducted by Bishop Israel provides an idea about
'the magnificent town of Varachan', which has streets and squares. 'Skilful
carpenters' work there, having made a huge cross which has been decorated
with images of animals, and goldsmiths have manufactured golden and silver
idols. The bishop's mission shows that Christianity is intensely preached
among the Dagestan Bulgars. He insists that Christian churches are built in
the region.

Barsilia was a nebulous stretch of territory in the sixth and
seventh centuries AD which can be located on the west bank of
the Lower Volga, approximately between modern Volgagrad and
Astrakhan

700s

Having been mentioned as a tribe in their own right in the sixth century -
by the likes of Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor and Menander Protector, and in the
early seventh century by Theophylaktos Simokattes in connection with the
brief Avar conquest of the
steppe and then the
Göktürk
conquest of the region - in this century the Onogurs are increasingly
connected with the Bulgars.

800s

By
this time, as the Volga Bulgars form a coherent state of their own
(otherwise referred to as Pontic Bulgars),
Eastern Roman
sources - notably the Patriarch-historian Nikephoros - are referring to
them as the Onogundur-Bulgars. Aside from the linking of names, however,
there is no direct evidence to show when or how the Onogurs (or elements
of them) have joined the Bulgars.

Volga Bulgaria

The Bulgars themselves
would still seem to have represented a large confederation which included
surviving elements of the
Kutrigurs,
Onogurs, and Sabirs. It
was a confederation which was also now integrating with local Slav
populations along the Volga to form a
Turkic-Slavic
union. However, some scholars have conjectured a number of dispersed
Bulgaric groups on the Pontic-Caspian steppe instead of the single more
northerly group which formed the Volga Bulgar state.

The Volga Bulgar state itself is known to consist of three main groups,
according to Ibn Ruste (writing at the beginning of the tenth century):
'the first branch was called Bersula [the
Barsils], the second -
Esegel [the Esegels], and
the third - Bulgar'. What drove the Barsils to run away to the Volga
Bulgars was implicitly mentioned by Khazar Khagan Joseph in the description
of his main territory in a letter to the Jewish dignitary Hasdaj Ibn
Shaprut. The domain also included the territory which most probably was
the traditional land of the Barsils at the mouth of the Volga. This shows
that in their expansion the Khazars had driven out their intermediate
neighbours.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from
Viking-Rus Mercenaries in the Byzantine-Arab Wars of the 950s-960s:
the Numismatic Evidence, Roman K Kovalev.)

894 - 895

The
Byzantines have
arranged for the Magyars
to attack the Volga Bulgars in an increasingly active struggle for control
and influence on the steppe. In return the Bulgars arrange to have the
Pechenegs lead another attack against the Magyars. With no room for manoeuvre,
the Magyars are forced to take flight and again they migrate westwards,
passing close to Kiev
as they do so. At the end of 895 they invade the Carpathian basin, advancing
towards the Danube. In doing so they sweep away
Avar control of the region
and lay the foundations of a state which maintains approximately the same
territory thereafter.

c.965

The Rus conquer the
Khazar khanate, taking control in the lower Volga to the detriment of the
Volga Bulgars. The Russ also inherit the Khazar monopoly on trade into the
region from Central Asia, in particular from the dominant
Samanids.

c.980

The Volga Bulgars force out the
Rus from the lower
Volga. Now they are able to dominate trade into the region from Central
Asia, and the
Samanids. From Volga Bulgaria, most of the coins that are imported from
the east and also from the south are subsequently exchanged in commercial
transactions and are re-exported further west or north-west by Rus
merchants, and then even further west into the Baltic basin and beyond.